IntroductionI
have owned various Krell amplifiers in my reference systems over the
years, each providing hours upon hours of listening joy. Recently,
Krell has released a new top-of-the-line lineup of gear under the
Evolution moniker that speaks to those for a need for the best of the
best and a willingness to pay for it. The review system under
evaluation is comprised of a $10,000 Krell Evolution 505 SACD player
with 24-bit 192 DACs, a $15,000 Krell Evolution 202 two-chassis stereo
preamp and the monstrous Krell Evolution 900 monaural amplifiers at
$20,000 each, or $40,000 for the stereo pair as reviewed. My review
samples are done in Krell’s signature silver finish, which is
breathtakingly beautiful out of the rack and poised on a simple table
as it is installed in my reference system.

Set-upTo
start, it is important to note that the Krell Evolution 900 power amps
are nothing short of huge. With a travel schedule that has me out of
the country more than in the States over the past two months, I hired
Simply Home Entertainment to come out and set up my Krell Evolution
system in a way that simply and neatly bypasses my reference installed
home theater. The SACD player was installed above the two-chassis
preamp on a modern-looking table to the right of my seating position,
which came out more elegant than expected. The amps were placed by two
strong men beside my Wilson WATT Puppy Version 7 loudspeakers.
Connections were made one of two ways during the review. The first was
with Krell’s proprietary CAST system. Alternatively, the system was
wired with Transparent Reference XL interconnects. The Krell Cast
system is a unique system that allows for one voltage gain stage
throughout the audio chain. In the world of absolute audio, less is
always more, and I found the CAST system to be a very unique solution
that I recommend any careful listener to audition. I also used
Transparent Reference XL cables for the speaker connections. At this
level, each gradation of high-end cable is easily audible, even to the
untrained ear.

Technology
Starting
with the power amps and without getting too geeky, these Krell mono
blocks have a lot of goodies under the hood. Most notable are the
massive 6000 VA power supplies, which surely make up quite a bit of the
weight of each beefy amplifier. Krell’s CAST system boards also add to
the unique design of the amps, allowing your entire Krell audio system
to act as one in terms of the way they are connected. There are
microprocessors that monitor the inner workings of the amp in order to
protect your investment when you may have had one too many sips of
Macallan 30 during a loud, late-night listening session. Krell’s
Current Mode speaks to the overall design of the amp, which allows the
component to operate in the current domain rather than the voltage
domain, unlike most other high-end amps. Krell’s Active Cascode
Topology reduces distortion by doubling or tripling the amount of
active devices used in a gain stage, resulting in the Evolution’s very
clean and fast sound.

The preamp is a dual chassis model
like the Krell Evolution 2 and the Mark Levinson No. 32 which, among
many benefits, allows the designer to keep the potentially noisy power
supply away from the sensitive electronics in the controller unit. The
$15,000 202 also operates in Krell’s CAST system and is a fully
balanced design. The volume control is ultra-sexy, with a truly great
feel. The volume “pot,” if you will, is computer-controlled by a 16-bit
balanced resistor ladder, creating smooth volume transitions and
resulting in no audible noise from the volume control.

The
Krell 505 SACD/CD player is a $10,000 dedicated audio machine that uses
some of the finest digital to analog conversion money can buy. The
player is, not surprisingly, wired for a CAST connection and is built
like a tank. The metalwork is so tightly machined that the player feels
more watch-like than a high-end SACD/CD player. In fact, when a disc
spools up, you can barely hear it with your ear to the side of the
player. Strangely, a player at this price point cannot play a DVD-Audio
disc but it can play CD, SACD, MP3 CDs and many other discs.

MusicStarting
with CD, I spun up “Gypsy Eyes” from Jimi Hendrix’s Electric Ladyland
(Universal MCA). I was ill-prepared for how impactful the Krell
Evolution system sounded. The bass, a topic I will touch a lot more on
later, was lower than I thought I could physically get from my Wilson
WATT Puppy Version 7s. What struck me was how warm and
three-dimensional Hendrix’s vocals sounded. The Krell Evolution 900s
were able to reproduce that warm, Neumann-mic vocal sound from an older
recording as if it had been remastered to a higher-resolution disc
(which it has not been, shamefully). The walking bass line of “Rainy
Day, Still Dreaming” resonates so strongly in my new room that I
couldn’t believe the sensation. Rock-solid, round and tight only start
to describe the low end of the Krell Evolution system. With the volume
at impressively loud levels, the Hammond organ sounded as detailed in
the mix as Hendrix’s wha-wha’ed-out Strat, which is mixed way more up
in the overall sound picture.

I
judge audio components more on their ability to make real music sound
incredible than how good an audiophile recording can sound with the
newest, most incredible recording techniques. This is mainly because,
as a proud non-audiophile, I would never consider investing in
something like a pair of $40,000 amplifiers unless they can make my
spine tingle on the best musical performances ever to grace some master
tapes. This brings me to The Beatles Rubber Soul (Parliphone – EMI).
The hard-panned sound of this strikingly good 1965 recording speaks to
the real reason why you realistically could start even thinking about
justifying the incredible expense of a pair of Krell Evolution amps. On
“Norwegian Wood,” the pairing of George Harrison’s guitar melody and
the sitar sound beamed forward into the room, lighting it up with sound
as you might expect to hear from live instruments rather than from
stereo gear. On “Drive My Car,” Ringo’s cow bell had incredible pop to
it, yet the piano sound in the back of the mix was a little congested.
Harrison’s guitar solo beamed in front of the soundstage from the right
speaker. The overall sound is so compelling that it makes you start
hunting through your piles of CDs for more Beatles records, which is
exactly what I did.

The
transition from Rubber Soul to Magical Mystery Tour was an easy one to
make in terms of heading to my racks of CDs, but left me sitting in my
listening room thinking about how prolific the best artists were in the
late 1960s. To creatively develop from writing and performing nifty pop
songs in 1965 to Sgt. Pepper’s and then Magical Mystery Tour in just
two to two-and-one-half years is truly incredible by today’s standards.
On Magical Mystery Tour, you still hear remnants of the hard-panned
stereo sound from the earlier records; the production and recording
techniques are so much more advanced. The introduction to “Strawberry
Fields Forever” sounds so incredible you might just play it 10 times
before you accept that you are listening to a mere CD. The horn melody
sounds a bit compressed, which is more of a set-up than anything you
are about to hear. The vocals jump into three-dimensionality with the
volume up in a way that I have never been able to get in my system.
This is the kind of musical experience that would make a kid throw his
iPod into the East River and start dreaming up every possible way for
him to buy his first Krell amp. I don’t think of Beatles records as a
place to demo bass performance, but on “Baby You’re a Rich Man,” you
simply can’t believe how deep the tight low end can go on this vintage
track, because if baby, you are a rich man, too – you might just drag
these amps home. I promise it feels absolutely fantastic to be “one of
the beautiful people in the world,” if even only for a few months in my
case, while I evaluated this system.

Moving
into more modern recordings, I reached for a record that, as a
teenager, I used to take with me to SoundEx, my local high-end Mecca in
Philadelphia. Don’t look for it today – they are long out of business
after trying it a “build it and they will come” showroom that included
26 properly-treated listening rooms and every high-end component known
to man, including an awful lot of Krell. This is where I got my
first-ever listen to Krell and I was hooked right then and there at 14
years old. However, it took me easily 15 more years before I could
actually call a Krell amp mine. “Synchronicity 1” from The Police’s
stellar Synchronicity album not only provides an audio demo that stands
the test of time, it speaks to the lost art of a band that took pride
in being not just excellent songwriters but also in playing their asses
off. Stuart Copeland is quite possibly the single best rock drummer in
the history of rock music (click here
to go to our forum to post your hate mail regarding slighting Neil
Peart and John Bonham) and this track shows exactly why. The breakneck
pace of this incredible song puts it on the short list with Rush’s
“YYZ” for sheer progressive rock showmanship. The sound of Copeland’s
snare jumps at you through a cacophony of sound that blends together
into one hell of a song. With the Krell Evolution 900 amps in my
system, you can feel the drums even in a complicated mix like this.
“Synchronicity 2” is a more popular track than its predecessor in terms
of 1980s rock radio airplay and, in terms of enjoying these Krell amps,
the driving Sting bassline had me reaching for the volume to push the
limits of what I could stand, as if I simply couldn’t get enough of the
low-end impact. “Wrapped Around Your Finger” also had very good low
end. However, the vocals didn’t have the pop that I was able to hear on
other tracks, even from earlier recordings. The snare fills and cymbal
trickery are still enough to keep you on the edge of your favorite easy
chair and, as the song crescendos into the chorus, the entire track
holds together like it’s constructed with super glue. The sound never
gets shrill, cold or disjointed. With the Krell Evolution 900 amps in
the loop, you have a rock-solid foundation for literally any speakers
you choose to own.

Speaking
to the audio excellence of the Krell SACD player as a front end to the
Evolution system is its ability to make seemingly lackluster SACD
material sound specifically good. One of the best examples of this
phenomenon is Michael Jackson’s Thriller, which I thought (from past
reviews on SACD) was one of the worst-sounding examples ever of a great
record on a high-resolution disc format. With the Evolution 202 stereo
preamp, Evolution 900 amps and Krell 505 SACD player in my system, I
have changed my stance on 1982’s Thriller on re-released SACD. On my
personal favorite track “P.Y.T,” the Quincy Jones production elements
literally fill the room, almost as if it is mixed in 5.1, when played
through the Krell Evolution system. The very subtle drum fills (play
the track on your system and listen for them if you never noticed) are
so tight that you get to experience a tremendous musical foundation on
one very solid pop song. The Steve Lukather guitar chops are
understated, yet very nifty upon close scrutiny. After a few times
through an old favorite like Thriller, it’s easy to equate listening to
Thriller on a Krell Evolution system to the reactive experience of
wolfing down the sound like a Double Western Bacon Cheeseburger from
Carl’s Jr. The bass has an addictive element and the highs are silky
smooth, without the limits you get from tubes. Yet, as you spend more
and more time with the Krell Evolution system, you get past the
flashiness of the power and realize that the fine details are so well
represented that you might as well be sitting down with Thomas Keller
at French Laundry. Audio elements blend in unexpected but beautiful
ways.

Moving
to more complicated mixes, “Café Reggio” from Isaac Hayes’ Academy
Award-winning motion picture soundtrack for Shaft (Stax – SACD)
provides for wonderfully rich guitar tones that have the liveliness of
tubes with the seemingly unlimited energy of a powerhouse solid state
system. Forget all of the “Krell sounds cold” clichés. If you haven’t
heard Krell Evolution, you don’t know how faithfully Dan D’Agostino’s
designs can reproduce music. The string accompaniment is lush and
deep-sounding, while the horns have a bit of bite to them, exactly as
they should, both flavors flourishing at the same time in ways few
audio systems can reproduce.

For
all Krell salespeople who have the pleasure of having an Evolution
system in their listening rooms, be sure to keep a copy of Keb’ Mo’s
Just Like You (Epic) on SACD within reach to play the role of
super-closer Trevor Hoffman with a three-run lead heading into in the
ninth inning of an important game. “Dangerous Mood” shows how a
high-resolution audio format like SACD, when paired with an all-out
music playback system like the Krell Evolution system, can shake you to
your soul by reproducing music in ways that you might not have believed
were possible before you sat down in the hot seat. On a pure DSD
recording (why weren’t they all when Sony was trying to make this
format fly?), everything you lay your ears on is pure candy: extremely
tight and low bass, rich organ sound and nearly three-dimensional
vocals. Once again, the highs are vibrant but in no way harsh, with the
bass the best I have ever heard in my system. Upon listening to
“Dangerous Mood,” you will likely be in so dangerous a mood yourself
that it could inspire you to actually invest in such a dramatic music
playback system.

The DownsideSonically,
the most jaded recording and mastering engineers would be hard-pressed
to pick fault with the electronics. Krell critics will need to
reevaluate their opinion of Krell based on the extended highs and even
better bass that one can hear on the Evolution system. Yet there are
issues that need to be considered when investing in a system at this
level. First of all is heat. The Evolution 900 amplifiers pump heat
into your room, the likes of which I haven’t felt from an amplifier
since the days of the Cello Performance II Class A mono blocks. I had
my AC unit set on 69 when it wasn’t even 69 outside in order to keep my
room comfortable during my many hours with the Krell Evolution system.
Size is another consideration if you, like me, rack-mount your
equipment. I am not sure a typical Middle Atlantic rack will
accommodate the depth or the weight of the amplifiers. Perhaps they are
meant to be installed on the floor, parked on some slabs of granite,
but as a recovering audiophile, I do what I can to rack-mount my gear
in order to have the best of both worlds.

The Evolution
202 stereo preamp is also hard to pick fault with. As a two-chassis
device, it competes favorably with the best from Mark Levinson and
Halcro and, as a system, provides impressive musical performance. With
that said, the remote truly stinks. Built of aluminum, it is heavy, not
backlit and hard to use. To suggest that an audiophile client will be
using a Crestron system is a bit presumptuous. The buttons are all
about the same size. Volume should be larger and should be more
responsive. The knob on the front of the preamp is great, but the
remote stinks.

The Krell Evolution 505 SACD player is a very capable front end and a
valued part of the overall audio system. Its remote is just as bad as
the Evolution 202, with the front faceplate taking the “one button fits
all” approach too far. In a dimmed room, it’s nearly impossible to make
the player do what you want. Switching from 5.1 SACD to stereo is a
complicated but not impossible feat for the player. There should be one
button that accomplishes this important task. The last dig on the
player is a frustrating one, and that is at $10,000, there is no excuse
for the 505 not to play every DVD-Audio title - not just the ones
without digital rights management coding. When $500 players on the
market can play every disc on the market, it's hard to understand why a
$10,000 unit can't perform the same feat.

Conclusion
In terms of accurate and exciting musical reproduction, I don’t think
you can do any better than the Krell Evolution system in today’s
marketplace. $65,000 is a lot of money to invest if you are judging the
performance of the system merely from this review. Before you pass
judgment on the system, take a listen with my warning – the sound is
addictive. You might find yourself rolling into your local high-end
audio dealer at 1 PM to find the salesman looking to actually go home
at 7 PM, and you’ll be wondering where the time went as well as the
remainder of your home equity line of credit.

Dan D’Agostino and Krell have outdone themselves with this Evolution
audio system. It is the most exciting package of electronics I have
auditioned in my system. The Evolution system was able to get bass from
my Wilson WATT Puppy Version 7 loudspeakers that I thought you needed a
subwoofer to hear. The highs are spectacular and the ability to resolve
detail is second to none. Forget the Patek Philippe for now. Cancel
your order for the Gulfstream G150 – you might just need a Krell
Evolution audio system first.